- Research uncovers notable exception in wetland, riverine, and coastal areas of the Netherlands, Belgium, and western Germany

- In this water-rich landscape, populations carrying roughly 50% hunter-gatherer ancestry persist for about 3,000 years longer than elsewhere in Europe

ANKARA

Ancient DNA studies show that between 6500 and 4000 BCE, descendants of western Anatolian farmers mixed with local hunter-gatherers across Europe, leading to a 70–100% ancestry turnover in most regions.

The research, however, identifies a notable exception in northwest Europe’s wetland, riverine and coastal zones, where hunter-gatherer ancestry persisted for thousands of years longer than elsewhere, profoundly shaping later population movements.

The findings come from a major new study published in Nature titled “Lasting Lower Rhine–Meuse forager ancestry shaped Bell Beaker expansion”.

According to the study, early farmers spread into Europe mainly through two routes: via Thrace and the Balkans into Central Europe, and along the Mediterranean coast.

As they expanded, these farming groups gradually interbred with Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), forming what researchers describe as Early European Farmers (EEF).

These populations introduced agriculture and, through sustained mixing with Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, replaced between 70% and 100% of indigenous ancestry across most of Europe, shaping the genetic foundation of modern Europeans.

Yet the research uncovers a remarkable exception in the wetland, riverine and coastal zones of the Lower Rhine–Meuse region, covering present-day Netherlands, Belgium and western Germany.

In this water-rich landscape, a population carrying roughly 50% hunter-gatherer ancestry persisted for about 3,000 years longer than in the rest of Europe, surviving well into the Bell Beaker period around 2500 BCE.

Researchers say this prolonged survival occurred because women from Anatolian-related farming groups joined local hunter-gatherer communities, rather than the reverse.

The region’s abundant wild resources and conditions unsuitable for intensive early farming allowed hunter-gatherer lifestyles and genetic lineages to endure far longer than elsewhere on the continent.

In essence, the study shows that while western Anatolian farmers became a central source of European ancestry through gradual mixing, northwest Europe’s wetlands remained a long-term refuge for hunter-gatherer populations due to limited gene flow and selective cultural adoption.